This invention relates to the field of devices, assemblies, kits, and methods used to help transport products. More specifically, the invention relates to one or more mounting braces adapted to be removably attached to a product to help transport the product with a lift vehicle.
Transporting a product involves moving it from one place to another place. Sometimes transporting a product involves shipping the product, which may involve loading the product into a container or onto a vehicle for transport, then unloading it when it arrives at its destination, then positioning it in its proper location at the destination. Transporting heavy and/or tall objects can be difficult, dangerous and time consuming. One way to transport these types of products requires securing the product to a shipping platform, which is often a disposable wooden pallet as shown in FIG. 1. The shipping platform is a raised platform having openings adapted to receive the tines of a pallet jack or forklift vehicle, which may be used to help move and load/unload the product. Some types of shipping platforms provide a means to attach protective packaging around the product, such as a crate or corrugate box as shown in FIG. 2. One problem with these traditional shipping platforms is that the product must be loaded on to and off of the platform during shipping. While the shipping platform provides useful functions, it may be difficult and dangerous to load/unload the product onto/from the platform, especially if the product has wheels, as is often the case with electrical enclosures. In particular, electrical enclosures have a relatively large aspect ratio of height to footprint and therefore are prone to tipping when trying to traverse the gap between the deck of the platform and the ground.
One solution for loading/unloading a product onto/from a shipping platform includes a ramp (shown in FIG. 2) positioned adjacent to the shipping platform. The ramp allows the product to roll off the pallet onto its wheels or casters after packaging constraints are removed. In the case of products such as electrical enclosures or data center racks, the center of gravity (CG) must be carefully considered so that the ramp angle is not so steep that it causes a tipping hazard. Care must also be taken to control the acceleration when the enclosure is rolled down the ramp. This may require several people or complex equipment especially since modern populated electrical enclosures may weigh thousands of pounds. In addition to dangers of using ramps, ramps also consume excess shipping space and weight within the packaging.
Another drawback to traditional shipping platforms is that they are typically made of wood. Some types of laminated wood materials are predictable and can be employed to high weight capacities, however, these types of materials are often very expensive. Natural wood materials are cheaper, but their weight capacity and performance is difficult to predict due to the high variability of the raw materials. Another problem with wood shipping platforms is that they usually can only be used one time because they become damaged as the product is secured then removed, especially when certain types of fasteners are used to secure the product to the platform. Typical pallets, skids, and crates are non-returnable and become a disposable cost of the product life cycle. Disposing of the pallets is often an additional cost to the end user. Shipping wood ramps and pallets also requires special products for certain import/export restrictions and are therefore subject to extra labeling and paperwork. Further, using wooden shipping platform materials tends to be wasteful due to limitations of board size and the commodity nature of the pallets not being sized correctly for a particular industry, market, or product. Generally speaking, this drives users to choose an oversized pallet that takes up more square footage during transit than required. This additional square footage impacts the cost of shipping and storage.
There is therefore a need for a device which overcomes these and other drawbacks in existing shipping technology.